The Motor Ombudsman has reported the highest ever volume of service and repair cases brought by consumers to its dispute resolution service during the third quarter of the year. Between 1 July and 30 September, the Ombudsman for the automotive sector received a total of 1,586 new submissions from motorists, up 18% from 1,348 in Q3 2023. This was slightly off the all-time high of 1,657 service … [Read more...]
Potholes problems see more calls for RAC help
The poor condition of Britain’s local roads is laid bare today by new figures from the RAC which show its patrols went out to more than 8,100 pothole breakdowns between April and June 2023, the highest number in five years. Since the start of 2023, the RAC has dealt with 18,250 breakdowns for damaged shock absorbers, broken suspension springs or distorted wheels – the call-outs which are most … [Read more...]
Newslines 26 May
The Volkswagen Group will pay out £193 million to more than 90,000 UK motorists after reaching an out-of-court settlement in a seven-year litigation process relating to Dieselgate. With each claimant receiving about £2,000 it marks the end of a campaign which has cost the manufacturer about £26 Billion since it fitted suspect devices to diesel models which circumvented official emissions tests … [Read more...]
Write-offs are worrying more drivers
Almost one in three (32%) UK drivers have had a car written off by an insurance company (men 35% and women 30%) and 8% twice or more. London drivers are the most likely to have written off a car, with almost half (48%) having had a car written off by an insurance company. This is almost twice as high as other regions including Wales (23%) and the West Midlands (24%). In the Opinium survey of … [Read more...]
Newslines 10 September
The new era 630hp Maserati MC20 sports car has been unveiled with its 3.0V6 engine to follow the success of the MC12 supercar. Its 1,500kg weight gives it a 2.9 secs time to 60mph and maximum close to 190mph, and there will be racing versions after it goes into production at the end of 2020. Ex-VW chief executive Martin Winterkorn and other senior executives are facing serious commercial fraud … [Read more...]
Calls mounting for insurers to repay premiums
British motor insurers should repay all or some of their premiums to customers because of a steep drop in car use and claims due to the coronavirus lockdown, according to a group of lawmakers. The lawmakers said car insurers had reported an almost 50% drop in claims during the lockdown and the British government had said driving was down by 75%, with insurers calculated to make one billion pounds … [Read more...]
Massive compensation claim underway against VW
Lawyers for 70,000 UK motorists have won the first stage of a High Court action against Volkswagen UK over the installation of emissions cheating devices in its diesel vehicles. In December the court was asked to rule whether software installed in the cars was a "defeat device" under EU rules and in a judgement on Monday, Mr Justice Waksman ruled that it was. Volkswagen said it was … [Read more...]
Newslines 18 February
Jaguar I-Pace manufacturing in Austria has halted for a week, because it cannot get enough traction batteries from LG Chem’s Poland plant. It is the brand’s fourth best seller, reaching 17,355 units last year and the Polish plant also makes packs for Ford Mustang Mach E and forthcoming Transit E. Although nothing has been given to UK customers, Volkswagen Group is compensating some German … [Read more...]
VW faces no-win, no-fee fight in UK court
Around ten thousand UK owners of VW Group cars affected by the diesel emissions scandal have begun proceedings for a class action lawsuit demanding around £3000 each in compensation. To date, VW has not offered compensation to UK owners of 1.2M affected cars, arguing that its cars didn’t breach the laxer European emissions regulations and if successful it could cost VWG £30m and potentially … [Read more...]